1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a chassis for supporting a plasma display panel (PDP), or other like flat display panel, and circuit boards.
2. Description of the Related Technology
A plasma display apparatus is a type of flat display apparatus used to display an image by using a gas discharge phenomenon, and is being spotlighted as a next-generation image display device because it can be made to have a thin thickness of several centimeters or below, a wide screen and a wide viewing angle of 150° or above.
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional plasma display apparatus. Referring to FIG. 1, a plasma display apparatus 10 includes a chassis base 40, a plasma display panel (PDP) 20 supported at the front of the chassis base 40 so as to produce an image, and a circuit board 60 supported at the rear of the chassis base 40 so as to drive the PDP 20. The PDP 20 and the chassis base 40 are connected to each other with double sided tapes 35 positioned around a transfer 30.
The PDP 20 includes a front panel 21 and a rear panel 22, and a plurality of electrodes are formed on the front and rear panels 21 and 22. An electric discharge is generated from discharge gas between the electrodes by a voltage applied to the electrodes, a phosphor is excited by UV rays radiated by the discharge, and an image is produced by light emitted by the excited phosphor.
The plasma display apparatus 10 is made in such a way that the front and rear panels 21 and 22 are separately manufactured and then combined into the PDP 20, the chassis base 40 is assembled at the rear of the PDP 20, the circuit board 60 is installed in the chassis base 40, and the resulting structure is finally installed in a case (not shown).
The chassis base 40, which is generally a flat panel and has an edge bent in a “” (or 90°) shape, supports the PDP 20 and dissipates heat transmitted from the PDP 20.
With a recent trend toward thickness reduction of the plasma display apparatus 10, the chassis base 40 is becoming thinner. Accordingly, the chassis base 40 tends to twist and flex, and thus cannot support the PDP 20 as well as a previous thicker chassis. That is, the thinner chassis base 40 alone is not rigid enough to adequately protect the PDP 20. Specifically, corner portions 45 of the chassis base 40 tend to break because the rigidity of the chassis base 40 is not sufficient.
In order to solve such a problem, reinforcement members 50 are installed on a rear surface of the chassis base 40. The reinforcement members 50 are connected to parts of the rear surface of the chassis base 40 in a “” or “” (or 90° or 180° bend) shape to thereby reinforce the chassis base 40. The reinforcement members 50 arranged at edges of the rear surface of the chassis base 40 function also as seat plates for supporting signal-transmission members 70 such as tape carrier packages (TCP) that are widely used for electrically connecting the PDP 20 and the circuit board 60.
However, the reinforcement members 50 (for reinforcing the chassis base 40) and the seat plates (for supporting the signal-transmission members 70) are separately installed, whereby the numbers of components and assembling processes and the manufacturing cost for the plasma display apparatus are undesirably increased.
Also, the reinforcement members 50 are made of metal such as aluminum or iron, whereby the total weight of the plasma display apparatus is undesirably increased.
Further, corner portions of the PDP 20 are exposed due to the lack of coverage of the corner portions 45. Because of this, the corner portions of the PDP 20 can be damaged during shipping of the PDP 20.
Furthermore, when the reinforcement members 50 are installed on a rear surface of a chassis base of a small-sized (35 inches or below) PDP, most if not all of the rear surface area of the chassis base may be needed for installation for the circuit boards 60. Such a surface area problem becomes more serious when more circuit boards 60 must be installed on the rear surface of the chassis base so as to produce a high-resolution display image.